Devlyn Marlowe, the first woman President of the United States, has just been elected. Breaking with the tradition of hiring a political writer to chronicle her administration, President Marlowe selects Lauren Strayer, a professional biographer with a reputation for absolute honesty. Lauren, her incredibly ugly pug dog and her computer take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where she begins to understand and eventually love the complex woman who is both the leader of a great nation and the mother of three children.